Hundred Great Muslims

Hundred Great Muslims
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Yaqub al-Mansur, but he did not live long to enjoy the favour of his patron and
died on December 10. 1198 A.C. at the age of 75.
Ibn Rushd was known for his humility and hospitality. Being pensive by
nature. he abhorred position and wealth. As a judge, he was very kind-hearted
and never awarded corporal punishment to anyone. He passed most of his
time in study and. according to Ibn al-Abar, during his long life there had been
only two nights when he could not study-one was the night of his marriage
and the other was the night of his death. He did not make any distinction in
his treatment towards friends and foes. He was a great lover of his native land.
Like Plato who in his 'Republic' has highly praised Greece, Ibn Rushd has
claimed his native land, Spain, to be the rival of Greece. According to Ptolemy,
Greece possessed the best climate in the world but Ibn Rushd claims the same
distinction for Cordova, the Capital of Muslim Spain.
Averroes, who was considered Avicenna of the West, applied himself to
philosophy, mathematics. medicine, astronomy, logic and Islamicjurisprudence.
His works have been given to the world by Renan. "He was one of the
profoundest commentators," says Munk, "of Aristotle's works." According to
Ibn al-Abar, his writings are spread over more than 20 thousand pages, the most
important works being on philosophy, medicine and 'Fiqh' (Islamic jurisprudence).
He was an eminent legist of his time and worked as a Qazi for a considerable
period. His 'Hidayat al Mujtahid wa Nihayat al Muqtasid' which deals with
Maliki Fiqh, is, according to Abu Jafar Zahbi, the best book ever written on this
subject. Renan has given a detailed list of his writings in his'Averroes' (Edition
III, pages 58-79). The list totals 67 works of Ibn Rushd, including 28 on
philosophy, 5 on theology, 8 on law, 4 on astronomy, 2 on grammar and 20 on
medicine. He was an astronomer of repute, who wrote 'Kitab fi Harkat al Falak, '
a treatise dealing with the motion of the sphere. He also summarised the
'Almagest' of Ptolemy which was translated into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in
1231 A.C. He is credited with the discovery of sunspots.
Muslim Rulers had had the reputation of being the greatest patrons of
learning in the world. Writingin his well-known book the "Making ofHumanity, "
Robert Briffault admits: "The incorruptible treasures and delights of intellectual
culture were accounted by the princes of Baghdad, Shiraz and Cordova, the
truest and proudest pomps of their courts. But it was not a mere appendage of
their princely vanity that the wonderful growth of Islamic science and learning
was fostered by their patronage. They pursued culture with the personal ardour
of an over mastering craving. Never before and never since, on such a scale. has
the spectacle been witnessed of the ruling classes throughout the length and
breadth of a vast empire given over entirely to a frenized passion for acquirement
of knowledge. Learning used to have become with them the chief business
of life. Khalifa and Amirs hurried from their Diwans to closet themselves in their
libraries and observatories Caravansladen with manuscripts and botanical
specimens plied from Bukhara to Tigris, from Egypt to Andulusia; embassies
were sent to Constantinople and to India for the purpose of obtaining books and